Ashland School Committee (January 14th, 2026)

0015 4 3 2 1 >> and good evening. This is the Ashlin School Committee meeting for January 14th, 2026. I'll start by reading our U mission statement, which is the Ashen Public Schools strives to be a model district that creates a culture of inclusivity for our diverse students and staff who feel safe and supported, are empowered with the academic and social emotional skills to pursue their chosen path and embrace their roles as positive contributors to local and global communities. This meeting is being recorded by W uh WACA cable TV. Order of business tonight will be our call to order, which we're reviewing now. Public participation, reports and presentations. Um, under that heading, we have Miss Alman with some third grade gardeners that we're looking forward to hearing from, assistant superintendent report on accountability data, warrant

002approvals, superintendent report, and then we have a consent agenda of approval of gifts and donations, minutes from the December 10th, um, reports of school committee members, and then we will adjourn. That's the order of business agreeable to the members of the committee. And Miss Tosti, you're participating remotely. >> All righty. Um so with that, um we'll do our first order of business is public participation. Is there anybody here from the public who would like to make a public comment? Seeing none, we will move on to our reports and presentations. Miss Alman, would you like to introduce your friends? Is this on? >> Yep. Okay, perfect. >> Good evening. So, I have the privilege tonight of sharing some of my third graders this year. Um, part of our school improvement plan is to empower our third

003graders to become gardeners or stewards of the land. Um, previous years we've had the fifth grade doing our student council. We've had fourth grade doing different jobs around the building. Um like being greeters in the morning, holding doors in the afternoon. So this year we wanted to do something with our third graders. Um and so we decided to have them help clean up some of the courtyard, maybe do some weeding. Um and so I had them come to my office on Monday and we did a little practicing rehearsal for tonight. And one of the themes that kept coming up was about all the mint that is planted in the courtyard. And I was very curious about this mint that uh Mr. Kendall and the building committee put in our courtyard. Um, so I was sharing

004this story with one of the teachers the other day and she's um in charge of the science symposium that we have in in the spring and she goes, "Oh, well, one of the presenters last year brought seeds and I think some of it was mint and so it might have gotten planted in the um the courtyard. So when you hear them talking about the mint, that's what they're talking about." So I'd like to >> say I don't remember that being [laughter] part of the the landscape plan if I recall, but um >> now it's never going away. [laughter] So, I'd like to invite my third graders to come on up. We have Skyla and Ali and Treyokia and Jack. You want to come on up and share about your experience with the gardening at Mendes?

005Come on up. Want to start? Let me just fix this for you. >> Okay. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Tokia. I had a very fun time picking vegetables like beans and carrots. I also found few bugs like maybe spiders and worms. My favorite part was like sorting the leaves. It was a way fun time. The funny thing is um the funny thing is there were like mint leaves everywhere and some random leaves um and all of us who were gardening got confused and we were requested to not throw the mints away. All of us got confused, so we mistook them for like um maybe leaves that fell from the tree or leaves that came from a vegetable. >> So, we threw them away. >> Oh my goodness. Thank you so much. >> Thank

006you. >> Great job. >> Yeah, great job. >> Skyler, you want to go next? [laughter] >> It's okay. We're not scary. >> We're gonna pass to Olly here. I like doing the my voice sounds weird. It's >> okay. >> I like doing the gardening because it was very mesmerizing and I think I found radishes. I also saw lots of larvas in the soil [snorts] soil. That's why I loved it so much. >> Thank you. Great. I think my thing was kind of dumb. >> You did a great job. [sighs and gasps] >> God, >> I have fun in the fall when we dig gardening by pulling out leaves and dead plants. So, now I'm talking about it. [laughter] It's what I said was trying to dump. [laughter] >> I liked pulling out the weeds and

007smoothing out the soil at the end. It was very fun. I also pulled out the mints from the trash. The When I smoothing >> When I was smoothing out the dirt, I found worms. >> Awesome job. >> Great job. >> Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you. Third grade. [applause] Awesome. >> All right, so next steps. Um, I brought Miss Gillis here, one of our OT teachers tonight. um who is just an amazing asset to our building and really a strong advocate for our RISE students. And so she has some great ideas of how to get them involved in some of our garden beds um that are out front of our c our um common area. So would you like to come up and talk about that? >> So I'm Kate Gillis. Um I

008work mostly at Mendes. I also have some students I service at the high school. Um, I've been trying to figure out as I've been in Ashland how to incorporate our rise and our connections kids into the community as much as possible. So, I'm really excited. We have a raised garden bed, so we're going to start supporting them with some gardening. This might be really a true test of um my word retrieval. >> [laughter] >> It's like >> process versus product because I'm 50/50 with growing things. I'm gonna be [laughter] >> But I'm excited to support the students, get them in the dirt. Hopefully, we'll grow some things. It'll give us some opportunities to also have some of our peers come out and interact with them. Um, when the third graders were out with some of

009their weeding, I was able to incorporate some of our connection students with that. And I recently found out that there are some garden beds at the high school that aren't being used. and I've gotten permission to use some of those up there. So, I'm going to get some of those students involved with that. So, I'm really excited. >> Thank you. [clears throat and cough] >> Excuse me. >> Any questions for me? >> I'm curious what you're going to be planning in the in the spring. >> What should we expect? >> What do you [laughter] guys think? Anything fun? >> Skyla, what? >> Mint. Mint. >> More mint. Mr. hands off. [laughter] >> You You guys should put that mint in a pot because it spreads like crazy. But if you put it in a pot

010and then put the pot in the ground, it won't spread anymore. Y >> it's a hot tip. >> Just keep it off my fields. All right. [laughter] >> You got it. All right. Thank you everyone. Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks. >> Thanks for coming in. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah, you can. You're all No need for you to stick around. Listen to us. >> Unless you want to, >> right? Not even off of that. >> Yes. >> Nice work. >> Great job with the mic. >> You want Kate to stay? >> Okay. >> Well, you'd like to. >> Well, she's one of the data. >> I understand. >> One of the [laughter] All right. Um, so the next item on our agenda, [clears throat] excuse me, is uh an assistant

011superintendent's report on accountability data. Michael, >> so I'm certainly not going to be quite as fun as those third graders, but we've got a lot of information to share. So, buckle up. It's go we we uh typically are able to take a look at this information in the summer. Uh so this is what we're going to be going over today is data uh from the 2024 2025 school year uh specifically around our MCCAST scores as well as accountability data and we're going to take a look at at uh Dibbles and I Ready. Uh so please just keep keep in mind that this is not data from the current school year. We are doing our accountability review from the 2425 school year. And just Mike, if I just chime in real quickly before you go and

012I mean I think it's just for whoever's paying attention, worth noting this is not a delay in terms of you bringing this to us. This is because of the school committee schedule over the last couple months that we put this off as late as we did. >> I I appreciate I appreciate that. Uh so we'll move on here. So, you know, the point today is to, you know, share the the assessment landscape. You know, what have we been doing over the past few years, where we're going? I I do want to be able to show some trends that we have observed in our district as well as some trends over the state and do a little comparison between Ashlin's success and Ashlin's achievement uh as compared to the state of Massachusetts and then hopefully highlight

013some areas of celebration as well as take a good hard look at some of the areas of weakness or challenges where we need to do some specific work to improve upon uh in the district. uh always important to note who our students are, who are the who are the kids that are in front of us on a daily basis. Uh we we all know about our enrollment data, but I think it's important for us to take a look at this quickly just to see um the different trends that we have in terms of our student population. Um, as you can see here, we we do have a large number of students who speak a a first language other than English. Uh, highlighted by over 33% at the Menz Elementary School. Uh, we have a high

014percentage of English learners here in Ashland, 15.8% at the Warren Elementary School. And we do have a really large number of students who are who are labeled as students with disabilities. Um, some of those students are on IEPs, some are on 504. There's a differentiation between the two. Obviously, I take a great deal of time in this uh presentation to look at students on IEPs rather than students with disabilities. Um, so we're spending some time talking about those students later on in the report. Highne students encapsulates a lot of different students. So those would be any students who have a specific need that could include lowinccome as well as students with disability and e students. Um, so our assessment landscape, you've seen this slide before. It's it's essentially the same thing that I've shown you

015over the course of the past few years. But what I wanted to note is that in the present time, we have taken now over the course of the last few years. We've added some additional assessments specifically ready is now K to8 for reading as well as math. And we've also made some significant strides in our MTSS processes and procedures. And I think that's worth pointing out. We continue to adjust those processes and align those processes to make sure we're doing everything we can to ensure that all students are getting what they need all the time. And it's been a undertaking that I have I've appreciated all of our principles, assistant principles, deans, our coaches, uh, our directors have really made it a point to ensure that we're meeting regularly as a district MTSS team to

016look at processes and procedures. And much of the data today is going to drive the decisions that we're making to ensure students are getting the appropriate interventions at all the different tiered levels. We're going to talk a lot about tier one data today because that drives the majority of our achievement and we have a lot of things we need to improve upon in the district in terms of tier 2 and tier three interventions. Taking a look at the Massachusetts MCCAST assessment trends in general uh along with our own trend data. So, I think everybody is well aware that there was some specific uh changes that were made to MCCAST's accountability structure this year and I I I do think the removal of the high stakes graduation requirement did impact the 2025 scores. I think that

017has been seen throughout the entire state. Um in and it's specifically in the area of science. I think that that you you'll see that there was some dip in science across the state. uh specifically in grade 8 and in high school. Uh grade five science was similar um scores to 2024 throughout the state, but there's definitely something to be said about scores dropping statewide and I think that has a direct correlation to the change in the high stakes graduation requirement. When we look at our spring MCAST data, uh we have some critical areas of improvement and it's particularly at the elementary and middle school level. Um, and our students in grade three outperform the state in both math and ELA, which you'll see. And, and I'm going to be going into more detail as we

018go, but I just sort of want to take this slide to just talk in in generalities about some of the areas that you'll see in more detail later. Uh, there's there's a need for improvement in ELA, though. Uh, we we outperform the state in both math and ELA. Uh, but there is a need for improvement. In 2024, 53% of our students in grade three met or exceeded expectations in ELA. Uh but even though we outperformed the state, only 49% of our students in grade three met or exceeded expectations in ELA in 2025. So that slight dip is something that we need to make sure that we're taking a look at. We also noticed a 4% increase in students meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA in grade 4. Uh so that's something to be proud of.

019But there was a 10% decrease in students meeting or exceeding expectations in grade four math. So math is something that we want to make sure we're looking at in terms of how we are teaching our tier one students in grade four. It's clear we have to take a a deeper look there and we also have to make sure we're providing the the targeted assistance that's necessary to make sure students are making efficient progress. Uh at the middle school level, uh students in grade six showed a 7% decrease of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math from 2024. But students in grade seven and grade 8 showed improvement. Uh and finally, we are pleased to report that our grade 7 students showed tremendous improvement in ELA. Uh 63% of the students met or exceeded expectations in

0202025 as opposed to only 53% in 2024. That 10% increase is pretty impressive and it marks a 21% differential over the state average. So district-wide data does show an upward trajectory from 2024. Uh this the state uh met or exceeded at a 43% rate and we did meet or exceed at a 56% rate which is obviously a 13% differential for Ashland. Um but we do I said have specific work to do in some of our grades. Uh the average scale score for the state was 494 where our average scaled score across the district was 502 as you can see here. And the average SGP for the state of Massachusetts was 50 while in Ashland we were at a 54.2. As you can see based on this slide, writing remains our biggest concern when it comes

021to ELA. That is our lowest area of of performance. Uh we still are well above the state in all areas that all context content areas by category in ELA. However, we do have some work to do in the area of writing. This is the math slide. Again, our this is encapsulates the entire district. We'll be looking more into the each school and get into each grade level as we go on, but as you can see here, uh district-wide data shows a 2% dip in math in terms of uh our our students who who met or exceeded from 2024. But the state dipped as well. We dipped at 2%, the state dipped at 1%. Um we we want to make sure that um we're we're keeping that in mind that there is certainly a a a

022change in in performance across the entire state as we look at this data. Uh average scale score across the state was 495. Ours was 505. Average SGP in math is 50 and we were at a 56.2. So we we are still outperforming the state which is really important. Uh and meets and exceeds data. >> You might have a question Mike. >> No just it looks like we had been dipping the last two years. >> Yeah. >> More than the state had. >> Yep. That we we have been. Yeah. There certainly is a dip in that. You can see that line graph there. >> Um the the meets exceeds data. We still are well above the state although we have that dip. So we we were at a 57% meets exceeds percentage while the state was

023at 41. Um our our biggest concerns remain geometry as well as fractions. So fractions are something we have to continue to look at. I think when you see our grade four and grade five data you'll understand that that was an area of concern. Um but this year grade five did perform over the state average but they did have our our lowest average scaled score and the lowest SGP. So grade five math is is a specific area where we want to target uh moving forward. So science uh as I talked earlier uh the science data is certainly impacted I think by some changes that were made u but not necessarily in the scores because there there there were now science field tests for grades five and grade eight but those performance tasks did not impact scoring.

024they were embedded in the tests. Um, but they do not count towards the score. But I but I do think you still have to take in mind take into account that students were forced to think at a higher level. And that that could tire some students out and could ultimately impact their scoring, but how how they performed on those specific questions did not impact scores. Okay. Uh district-wide data shows again another dip uh in terms of our achievement levels from 2024 and the state dipped by 1%. Um in terms of our meets and exceed percentage we outperformed the state by 14% uh the state was at 43% and our average scale score uh was nine points higher than than the average of the state of Massachusetts. I just as a general question, Mike, when you

025like I'm looking at this slide, right? And it's been the same with the last two and shows the exceeds the meets the um and then the partially meeting and the not meeting numbers. When you look at these data points, um how much do you focus on sort of where that spread is? For example, between meets and exceeds, how many are exceeds versus how many meets? you can see that there's I'm not sure there's a huge change in those those numbers, but um how much are you looking at at that kind of thing for indications or do you really just focus on meets and exceeds as sort of one category and then other? >> Yeah, we I I focus on the meets and exceeds as one category and really where we want to take a look

026at is is taking those students who are partially meats above to meets. Obviously, we we love it when kids go from the meets to exceeds. certainly a a goal, but when we when we talk about who we're prioritizing, we really want to prioritize moving students from the gray into that light blue category. So, I think we're spending more time looking at, you know, how how many students are on that cusp there. >> So, I and we don't necessarily have a have a slide to show that, >> but rather than look at the the difference between the meets and exceeds, I think it's the greater blue, which is a little bit more important for us. >> Okay. And and I guess one other general question when you look at the SGP um right which I think

027we all understand is the student growth percentile and um reflects how we're doing compared to the expected growth for a year. Yeah. >> Um do you break that down across people who are the students that are sort of exceeds or meets or whatever to see where whether we're getting the equal growth across all levels. >> Yeah. So we we we do look at individualized data in terms of SGP. Um that's that's digging a little deeper. One of the things that I I mentioned to Jim today is we could [snorts] go down a thousand rabbit holes when we start looking at the data. Obviously my goal today is to give you more of a general overview. But just so you you know we when we are talking about specific students in data team meetings, we are

028looking at specific students and their and their you know SGP. What I can tell you is that it's a lot harder for a student who is at exceeds to have a higher SGP as they move forward. So students who are moving from that grade blue have a higher rate of student growth than the students who are beginning at that exceeds level. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Is there uh is there any reason why the science doesn't have the average SGP what the other ones? >> Yeah, because there's there's no much there's there's nothing from the year before. So there's no SGP in science. >> Okay. >> Because we're only testing at grade five, grade eight, and grade 10. >> And quick question, is there a a curriculum need we need to address with ecology? And

029I see it's the highest performing score across the state. Uh and we only have a 47 things uh percentile score. Yeah, not only ecology but I think in biology as well because if you'll notice that molecular uh the molecular inorganisms is is another area of weakness, another area of general weakness for our science. So we certainly need to be looking at what we're doing in the area of ecology as well. It is it is as you pointed out Amishek the only place where we performed [snorts] below the state average in science. So, >> so like have you maybe considered reaching out to schools who have performed well in that and see where their curriculum kind of differs from ours or >> we haven't at this point? No. Uh we have not. Uh but that's a

030that's under advisement. Abashek, that's a fantastic idea. [snorts] >> And and what what proportion of the thing is ecol because being that we're still you I would think something being low like that would it would impacted our our overall. So I'm assuming it's a it's a small subset. So >> it it is and one of the things that we do at the curriculum team level. So when I get together with our district curriculum leaders, we do a deep dive into an item analysis. >> And we haven't reached that point yet in terms of looking deeper into the specific ecology questions that we've seen. uh that's probably been done at the building level, but I I unfortunately I can't speak to the exact item analysis that has done been done yet for >> ecology is >>

031because sometimes when it's such a small subset [clears throat] >> question throws it. >> Yeah. Yeah. And all of a sudden, you know, our curriculum didn't handle one particular topic that had two questions and all a sudden, oh >> and again, I don't have the item analysis. I could look it up for you in seconds. Um but >> it it is an area of it's a generally area of weakness for us which needs to be pointed out. >> Yeah. And anecdotally in my experience taking the tests ecology is really quite a small part. It's usually more of those physical sciences and things like that. But yeah you you are right it's something that we do need to try and address and even if it is a small gap it is kind of a of the

032armor so to speak. >> Sure. Okay. Great point Abashek. >> So now we're going to get into specific schools. Um, we lose it here. So, taking a look at Mendes. Uh, this is the this is Mendes as a whole. And this I'm going to give you just some quick anecdotes uh about the specific data and then we'll go into uh each of the different grades by subject area. So, as you can see here, 47% of our students uh met or exceed met or exceeded in ELA. That's 4% over Massachusetts. Uh the 4 the 498 average scaled score is three over mass in the 48.7 average SGP unfortunately is lower than the Massachusetts average this year. So our SGP uh overall at Mendes in ELA was one point lower uh than the SGP across the state.

033Uh in math, our 52% meet succeeds is um 3 percentage points lower than 2024. It remains 11 points over the Massachusetts average, but we did, as I've stated, see a dip in our meets exceeds percentage in the area of math grades three through five. Uh we also saw a onepoint dip in our average scaled score in math. We went from a 502 in 2024 to a 501 in math. We remain six points over the Massachusetts average. And our 53.8 average SGP in math is also five points less than 2024. Uh from hearing that quick data, I think you'll understand that we are looking very closely um at what we're doing with the curriculum in the area of ELA and math, specifically at the fourth and fifth grade levels. As you know, there's no SGP for

034grade three. Um but a lot of this data will will show you that there are some needs for improvements in our instructional methodology in in grade four and grade five. >> Mike, I have a quick question. So looking at like the oh thank you looking at the ELA data um you know if you break it down in terms of reading language essay writing so obviously writing is is the area that we need the improvement um the students who are at Mendes now had the benefit of of being kind of monitored by the data teams at Warren um can you remind me um I know the data teams did so much around literacy um where did did writing was writing a piece of that or is it something that may need to be added added to

035kind of that. >> So I think >> glow if you will. >> I think writing was the second piece of that. So we started with the reading portion of literacy and writing has then been added after. Gotcha. >> So >> the current fifth grade probably did not b or the fifth grader in 2025 probably did not benefit from writing being a major portion of the data teams. Um so yes, what you're saying is is really correct. We we need to see if now that writing has become >> how does that evolve? Yeah. And in terms of and and you may not have this and I apologize it's not a question I raised earlier but looking at you know kind of past years even a couple years ago with you know now we have like 63%

036of students um you know it kind of passing I that's the wrong word but meets or exceeds for reading 59% for language. What did that look like before we were doing the work with the D? And like I said, you may not know that now, but do you feel like there's been a growth in that space to say we're doing better in those areas that we've clearly been targeting and working really hard to do better on um in those lower grades? >> So, our data has um fluctuated from 2021 to 2025. Um I'm going to be sharing some longitudinal data with you. And like I said, I apologize I didn't raise it earlier, but I'd be curious to look at that spec that specific because I think it's such great work that's being done on

037those data teams and that would be a really clear um >> I want to make sure but I want to make sure I'm answering your your question and I'm not sure I'm totally understanding. So you you're not talking about a a specific grade and how they've done over time, right? You're speaking of how did grade five do in 2021 >> kind of. Yes. It's like in essence to look at these numbers here um like how you have this chart broken down in like the upper right hand corner where we're looking at those four domains um you know has have those numbers gone up >> since we've been doing the date even if you're looking at the building on the whole right that focuses and again I apologize I didn't raise it earlier >> yeah I

038mean that's something I can certainly get to you but anecdotally um from looking at the data I can say that it has really fluctuated year to year it's more based on cohort I than than necessarily >> um the specific year. >> Yeah. Okay, that's fair. >> But but I would >> I mean maybe this is an incorrect assumption like grade three and four has a better rate than grade five and having a child who is in that grade five being the COVID kindergartener like I know that they didn't get that >> curriculum change. So I would say or assume that some of that curriculum change is reflected just in the two grades behind them doing maybe better than they did. >> Yeah, perhaps. And I and I think that what you're also going to see

039is that once they get to the middle school, our writing you you'll see that the writing improves significantly in terms of the numbers. I I I think it's also fair to say that writing has traditionally been the area of biggest concern in MCCAST, period. right? You look at the the scores, thankfully, we still are above the state, not not by a lot, but it's not we're not very different than the trend. So, writing continually becomes a a an area of of need. Um, we have made some specific changes obviously to how we're doing our data team meetings. We've also made some specific changes at the middle school level because of the data that we've seen with student writing at grade five. Uh so we've incorporated the addition of the sixth grade writing class. Uh and

040I think that it will be very interesting to see how the data in the next two years improves in sixth and seventh grade along along with some specific changes that we're making to writing right now. um particularly around things like the utilization of two column notes that we've added over the course of the last two years uh to see how that impacts student performance on the writing the writing in the essays that they do for the MCCAST. >> Hey Mike, with with the with the tools you have, how much information about uh other schools do you get and and particularly the ones that we would we would compare ourselves to and and to see if their our trends correlate to theirs. And sometimes it's like okay the state data is meaningful overall but you know

041a lot of times we do it in a lot of other areas. We say, "Okay, well, we believe we we compare well from a demographic or whatever perspective with these other schools." And how much how much data do you are you able to get and then compare? And have you if you have, have you been able to see anything that that strikes you as either concerning or maybe it lends it to less concerning because you're saying, "Hey, we all, you know, all the ones that we would compare ourselves to had similar impacts." And so you're not like saying, "Hey, we're doing something totally wrong." [clears throat] I >> I'll be honest. I've spent more time this year comparing us to ourselves because I've seen so many specific dips that that concern me in terms of

042us doing um our achievement scores being lower than they were the previous year. Uh so I haven't done a real analysis of our DART data like I've done in the past. I've been more [clears throat] focused on trying to figure out what we're what we're not doing. Uh but that's an interesting point that you bring up Paul because maybe it is a trend across some of the the towns that are in our our sort of dark area but >> yeah so I mean just and you may know this very but I'll just say it for the for the world a lot of the data is available on desi website right where you can you can look at the dark analysis that tells you what your communities are you can see at least a good amount

043of the compromise >> oh it's there yeah >> yeah but like I said I have not spent a whole lot of time looking at that because we've been more focused on on trying to figure out why we're not performing at that level and I I haven't done a lot of that comparative data beyond the state in general. >> Well, I do think that would be kind of helpful to analyze because it it would provide like a kind of broader context that isn't there if you just hyperfixate on on just our situation. >> Sure. Uh but like it's I don't think it would be too helpful to like compare ourselves like the the issue with the state data is it's not really too helpful to be comparing ourselves with some town in the Birk or some

044town in the Birkers. Right. Sure. >> So uh I do think that he he brings up a good point. It's it's very valuable to be corroborating with different superintendent around uh around like our area. So I do think >> take that into consideration. It certainly will. In terms of uh the the work we've done uh specific gradewise in at Menddees for ELA, as as you can see here, uh as we just talked about, writing writing is a weakness. Uh and it's a glaring weakness at grade three both with short answers and essays. Um that's that's something that we have made uh specific changes to how we're teaching writing, looking at the rubrics and adding in the two column notes to make sure that we are looking at that specifically to improve our our writing practices.

045Um but it is important to note that in grade five there was a 7% growth in writing from 2024. So there is there there are some positives to look at here. So there were some there were some changes in the grade five data specifically in writing moving up 7%. Math uh by grade at Mendes just some key points that you can see on there. Uh and grade five as well grade five SGP declined significantly which is a concern to us. Um [snorts] but it did meet exceed increase by 3% over 2024. So that goes back to what uh Mark may have been saying. So dipping in SGP uh may have been uh because some of our students were at the higher rate that had a had a higher meet succeeds. So we have to take

046a a further look into why exactly um our SGP went down so much uh while our meet succeeds data did go up by 3% from 2024. And here, as you can see, the weakest area um at the [clears throat] grade three through five level is geometry. So, we're we're taking a good look at what we're doing in geometry to make sure we're improving our practices there. Mike just a question for clarification as we look [clears throat] at these things and probably should be clear to me by now but we look at like grade three grade four grade five data when we're looking at the data on grade five we're looking at and again this was last May right so treating that as this year for the purpose of my question >> sure >> that data

047is showing the student the SGP for the kids who are fourth grade the year before. >> Correct. >> Right. >> So to your point, if we looked at the 58.8 being really high when this group was in grade four, >> Yep. >> that could explain why the 47 and a half correct is lower because just a little bit uneven growth. >> It's hard. It's hard to have those two two years of extreme growth. >> Right. I got you. Okay. I I always struggle with when we talk about this stuff as much as we've been through it to keep the sort of cohort straight in my mind that we're we're talking about is from one year to the next >> and and I think it would be probably the easiest way would probably to correlate the

048SGP and the percent meet exceeds and how they trend together and you'd be more concerned if both uh if if the SGP dipped but the uh the percent meet succeed was going up then that that would you know potentially be explained by that. But if you saw a little bit, you didn't see the you didn't see the percentage go up and you saw that dip, then it's probably a little more concerning, I would imagine. >> Yeah. So, so the the the goal is to always have 50% SGP. So, that means that you have grown at a rate that is commensurate with what we're looking to do. I I do think that there are going to be some slides later on in the presentation that you're going to find interesting because I did some longitudinal work.

049So you could actually rather, you know, when you look at this slide, you're looking at, okay, what did the current sixth graders do in grade five? What did the current fifth graders do in grade four? And you're not you're not comparing cohort to the same cohort over time. So what I did do for you this year is I broke out a specific cohort to see how they have trended over time. And I think it adds a an interesting amount of information to sort of see trends, right? That trend data to me is probably more valuable than looking at it just one grade at a time because that says something about what we're teaching. But I also think that that cohort information is very valuable. >> Well, it allows you to take what you've done, you

050know, they've experienced change one, two, and four, whatever it is. Correct. >> And you're like, okay, that might have impacted them the next year, right? What positive or negative, right? Correct. And it could explain, you know, as you say, longitudinal. >> So, the way I understood Mike's question is if maybe we hold some of ours, they're going to be answered later. Is that >> some of the great this is a great conversation and I I also appreciate the the grace that you're giving me because I don't have all the answers to all of your questions. And what I can tell you though is because we have certain tools at our disposal, I'm able to find those answers really quickly. And one of the things I was going to say at the end of the meeting

051is if there are specific questions that we're not able to answer, I'm happy to come back in one of my assistant superintendent updates is not going to be an hour and a half long and hit on those specific data points because we can get to those things pretty easily. >> Okay. Thanks. Uh terms of the middle school uh just a a quick snapshot. So 61% um meta exceeded in the area of ELA which was a 4% increase from 2024 and 18 points higher than the Massachusetts average. Uh our our scaled score was also 10 points over Massachusetts at 504 in our average SGP of 58.4 is pretty impressive. That's that's a that's a really good solid SGP uh for the middle school 6 through eight combined uh eight over Massachusetts. Again uh you'll see some

052really solid data in math as well. 59% of our students met or exceeded which is 18 over the Massachusetts average. 507 was the average scaled score which is a solid score. And our average SGP was also 58.2. So, I think the average SGP at the middle school in both ELA and math is something that's worth celebrating. That's that's a really solid score and it's good to see that growth. >> Yeah, question. >> Um, in terms of ELA by grade, again, a relative weakness is white is writing. Uh, but I think that it's important to note that we have made some specific changes. I talked I briefly talked about that earlier. So, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in the next couple years in terms of that that writing. I mean, we we we've known

053for years writing I've t I feel like I've had this conversation every year. Every year I think we've made significant changes to try to improve the writing and and we're we're not necessarily seeing it grow as fast as we'd like. So, we did make a really significant change this year in incorporating an entire year-long class at the middle school level. So, I'm excited to see the fruits of that. Um, [clears throat] >> but Mike, I it's also fair to point out that at least on these particularly, while they're the lower of the categories proportionally to the state and things, we're well above the state and so it doesn't seem like it's anything unique to us. I don't think we, you know, shouldn't take our foot off the gas. We want to improve, but >> I'm

054not alarmed by it. Uh, you know, there's opportunity there, but >> but, you know, those are those are those bars are significantly higher than the state. So, it seems like it's a >> it's it's something that all schools seem to seem to and and this might be where where looking at our cohorts saying, "Hey, >> um you know, maybe maybe there is something more alarming if we look at our comparable schools saying, hey, compared to them, we are, you know, out of five or we're the fifth. Okay, we have more work." >> Yeah. Well, I think looking at next year that grade six, right, the line, we should see that, you know, accelerate up, right? I mean hopefully that's what the writing class will will help us perform a little bit better um instead of

055being more flat at the sixth grade level. [clears throat] um a much you know much you know trajectory >> and I guess my point is you look at the sixth grade and proportionally how much higher than the state that bar is in the top right >> it's actually higher than you know it's a proportionally further higher fis >> more higher >> yeah higher [laughter] higher >> and that's not that's not the only thing we should be celebrating at the middle school I mean I look at that grade seven data and the fact that our meet succeeds data increased by 10% uh last year is certainly something to celebrate. I mean, and that's and that is 21% over the state average. But the fact that our student performance at grade 7 was a 10% increase, I

056think that's something that we we we want to uh congratulate the the teachers at the middle school for and the students who work so hard to get there. That's that's a huge jump. And but I think that we also have to keep in mind next year when we look at the uh eighth grade data SGP might not be quite where we want it to be because of the significant jump that was made in grade seven. So that's something that you know that's that's like a for foreshadowing for what could happen based on >> the expectation right and again uh taking a look at math uh a slight dip in meet succeeds and the average skilled score however the SGP increased by four points at grade 8. So that just goes to show what we have

057been talking about, right? Sometimes that SGP grows even though there could be a dip in meat succeeds because the students at the lower levels are achieving a higher rate of success, but they're not yet getting to that meets category. They might be going from a low partially meets to a little bit higher, uh, but not yet getting quite to that meet exceeds where we want them to be. But their but the SGP is is going to grow when students scores increase. Uh and again, you know, to to celebrate some things, we're going to look at grade seven again, right? They they increased in all areas. They increased in their uh scaled score, they increased in their meets needs, and they increased in their SGP. A 60.8 SGP in grade seven math is certainly something to

058be celebrated. uh our goal is 50% and they they were well above of the goal of of 50% when they when they're at a 60.8 and obviously grade 8 too with the 59.7 SGP is is a solid score there too. Just Mike if you remember it feels like from several years running we've we've seen numbers SGP numbers at least some I don't remember whether it's ELA math both varying whatever but that the middle school for a number of years feels like it's been hitting those numbers or close to it. >> Yeah. >> Is that is that >> true? It has and you know this is please don't take this as me um saying that I've done the extensive research on this but I have always had the opinion that the grade four and grade five

059MCCAST test is the most challenging test that we have in the state and I think a lot of the reason why those numbers are sometimes low and then all of a sudden we're having a great deal of success at grade seven and grade eight is because I believe that the test is a little bit more challenging at grade four and grade five. Again, that's purely opinion >> and I and I actually when I on my way driving yesterday, I said no opinions, keep it to the facts, but that could be something that drives some of those numbers. But I but I also think that, you know, that it has to that has to have something to do with what we're doing in grade seven and grade eight >> and and the state SG uh SGP

0604, does that show the same trend? I mean, because that because that would that would lend credence to what you're talking about, right? If if uh the state overall is lower, the the four and five students when they go to six and seven are showing generally higher SGPS than than previously >> SGP always norms at 50. >> Yeah. Well, specifically this year, grade five, grade five specifically this year and the 2025 data shows that it's lower across the board for everyone. I think the grade five test this year was incredibly difficult. Interesting. I wouldn't expect that. >> Yeah, it was. And there's there's data that that there's data out there that does show that across the state that's where the highest level of challenge was. >> Uh Ashton High School continues to to to succeed,

061although we did have a decrease in in ELA in all areas. Um we're still above well above the state average in meet succeeds, but we did dip. We we we we dipped in um meet succeeds. You see that little dip there from 2024 um in average skilled score as well as average SGP. It all went down in ELA. Um and in in math, we're we're kind of staying staying pat. you know, there's not wasn't much movement in math at the high school level. Um, I I think anecdotally, again, one of the reasons that the scores dipped a little in ELA is because that's where the students who are impacted by the change were impacted the most. Uh I I remember laughing when the state got on a a call with us in the beginning of

062the year to talk about the data and they said this is the year that they've seen more blank responses to open response questions or responses that were unrelated [clears throat] to the question including responses such as I'm not going to answer this right or or complete off-topic responses and some even um gave reasons why the MCCAST should no longer exist in their answers. So there were not necessarily happening in our town. We don't know. But and I also think it's worth note that worth noting that when I talked to Alisa Egan at the high school about the responses, she she felt like the scoring was way off this year as well. She she thought that many of the scores that that were given to us didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. Um,

063so interesting to to think about uh writing from that lens where there was a a discrepancy in scoring, especially when it comes to PE folks that we really trust. You know, our our English department is is pretty skilled at analyzing analyzing writing. Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to see how kind of in the coming years what the state decides to do with this on a on a bigger picture because I think it's going to become a far less credible um measure of accountability um across the board given the fact that it's >> why take it? What's the point? It doesn't matter, right? >> And it it changed the trajectory of what it means for everything. And I think it was, not to share my opinion, but I'm gonna I think it was

064it was poorly done the way that it it's unfortunate the way that it rolled out because I think I'm I'm not in in disagreement that it needed to be made, but I think it's created a lot of complications for the way that it the way that the change was made. But >> in terms >> Sorry, I'll get off myself. >> No, no, [laughter] it's a fair valid point. And in terms of science, you're going to see that there was an increase in meets needs, meets exceeds and average skill score in grade five, which we're really happy about. Uh there was a decrease in meets succeeds in grade 8 and at the high school. Again, not sure if that is related to the uh changes in the accountability structure. Uh, >> so [clears throat] >> do

065you do you anticipate having data or do you have data that's yet to be looked at that that allows you at least to make your own educated assessment as to whether or not the the change in the the requirement around the test impact those scores? Like would will you get data that's enough to see whether people are writing responses like that on the ELA? It's all right. Well, we know that doesn't really reflect anything. Yeah, we we we can look at the direct some of the direct responses to see Yeah. >> Yeah. I assume where you'll see that is, you know, the students that aren't graduating uh you know, but the earlier students when they come and you're like, "Okay, you need help in this area." And you're like, "Wait, you don't need help in

066this area. You you just basically, you know, >> you decide whether you're going to play along or not." >> Exactly. [clears throat] And and and again, I think it's fair to say that we're we're we're achieving at a pretty high rates at the high school, even though even though that the data show that there was a dip, I'm still pretty pleased with the level of achievement success at the high school in terms of our science data. Yeah, it seems like this is one of those places where the percentage over state average um if it varies might be indicator because I assume that the the types of responses they're going to be scattered throughout the state, right? They're not going to be localized to Ashlin or Hopin or any one place. They're going to be kids

067here and there decide to do something. Um, that doesn't mean that the data that's on the slide where the 6% decrease in meats and seeds, you know, I don't know what that means, but the 19% over state average in this context might at least indicate. >> Yeah. But I think it's worth concerning that the the there is a downward trend right right now in our science data. I mean, it is showing a downward trend over the course of the last three years, right? Actually, the last four years, it's continuing to go down. um while the state has sort of maintained at the same level. So, we certainly need to look at what might be impacting that. >> Um but I I would be lying if I said that wasn't my biggest concern right now. I

068think we're about to get to my biggest concern. >> Well, let's get to it. >> So, there's there's your lead. uh when we talk about our subgroup data. Okay, so uh and and again when we talk about going down rabbit holes, I I could have done a subgroup analysis by each grade level and know that we've done that uh and Christy and I have talked about even taking some access data and comparing that to the specific MCCAST data to see any correlations. But what I wanted to just give you was more of an overview. Um really >> to really know what access state is >> really because of the the the time that we're allotted here. Um but just to give you kind of a quick summary, right? We have a we have a a

069need for targeted intervention and improvements for our English learners and that is a huge priority at our district. Uh and you're going to see there also is a need for targeted interventions for our students that are on IEPs. Uh and it's notable in math. It really is. So, our overall student population data showed that we outperform the state in every area. You saw that it's alarming that uh in the data for our English learners, we are underperforming the state in all areas. And not only are we underperforming, but our meet exceeds data uh is 3% less in math from 2024 and that fell 3% below the state. So, we have we we need to take a good hard look at what we're doing in mathematics for our English learners. That has to be a major

070priority for us. Um, what I can tell you at this point, um, and this is the I'm sorry, this is the ELA slide. >> Yeah, I I'll get to the math one. Um, >> but what I can tell you is in terms of for ELA, uh, we created a model, uh, that allows level four students. So, as you know, we our English learners have different levels. >> Um, our level four students are students that are achieving at a little higher rate right now. Uh, we we've created a model to allow them to access grade level content while still receiving targeted language supports and and we think that that's going to ultimately show dividends in our achievement. Uh, at Mendes in particular, uh, the support is provided through a push-in model. So that we're pushing in

071at Mendes at the middle school and the high school students are receiving support through a bridge class and that bridge class allows them to get what they need um and and hope that they're also getting the content related to the subject matter as well as their English language support. The goal the goal here is is to provide language scaffolding for our students in a in a more direct way that's going to align with their grade level uh competencies. Mhm. >> U we also have you know increased collaboration at Mendes and and we're ensuring that the interventions are coordinated and targeted. I think one of the things that has come from our data team meetings is an improved collaboration between not only the regular education staff and our English learners, but also our special education staff

072and our English learners. And we're seeing students come out of our day-to-day team meetings with real targeted assistance goals. And I and I want to praise the work that's happening at Mendes because that has become a major priority. Obviously, it's databased, but it's a priority that we're taking very seriously. >> Mike, do you know how our English language learners compared to English language learners across the state versus just the the regular state numbers? Or is this comparison comparing our English language learners in district with English language learners across the state? This is this is in comparison to the state data. >> The state in general. Okay. Do we know how or I don't know if that's something that you can break break down in terms of the state numbers. >> I I'm not sure. I

073I I'll look into that one. >> I mean, obviously, we want to strive to be higher regardless, but I'd be curious in terms of uh kind of what the state is seeing in particular for English language learners and how how we compare. >> The SGP and the ELA, right? And that's that 427 is below the 50% threshold and 50 threshold. That's what you're looking for in a year. Right. >> Right. But just on on these slides wanting to understand you're breaking out your data different than the on that graph, the state data >> on all of them is exactly the same data. >> Yeah. >> And ours and the and our line isn't. So >> we're looking at our ELS, >> right? >> Yeah. >> So what's the what what's the state line there? because

074on the English language learner IEPs they're all that line that state line is exactly the same line. >> So obviously the data we're looking at is different. >> So you're taking out these these subgroups but the the state data >> I think I understand what it's >> in comparison to the >> line is is like all students as opposed to subgroup data. >> Right. Yeah. So if the question would be what would a line is what you're >> talking they're not really comparable. you're you're taking out a subgroup and then comparing it to a group, >> right? But but the biggest point though is that we are so far below we right the point still stands and we've seen a dip in our in our pro in our progress which is concerning [cough] to us.

075[clears throat] >> I think and I've brought this up for you know 15 years. I I think it's really critically important to think about our students in the context of how long they've been in the Asham public schools, right? I think that's critically important when we get students who might be first or second year uh students within the Asham public schools at say at the high school level andor um a grade five level uh where we don't know the the e support they've received in their sending schools to us. I think it's more valuable to look at the longitudinal data of students who have been with us identified as EL students from the beginning of time and looking over a five-year window as to see how much they've improved what their growth was. I think

076that's more valuable to see what we're doing in the in the curriculum that Christie has helped bring into, you know, we talk about the flashlight, you know, like there's work being done and we're seeing growth with the students who are staying with us as opposed to students who move into our district sometimes that we don't have an understanding of the curriculum they've received over time, especially in EL. So, >> so I I think when you look at this slide, uh this is our students on IEPs. Obviously, again, this is an area of concern, but I do want to point out that once again, in grade seven, right, grade grade seven, we're seeing some some positive trends. So, while it's a low number, 27% of our students um who are on IEPs in grade seven, met

077or exceeded and and at the in ELA. So, I I see that as a positive number. While it's low, it's it's it shows that in grade seven we are doing some good things. Uh >> hey Mike, just before so I don't lose it on the on the previous slide, the bygrade level only has a single grade. Why is that? >> Um that's because that's the only place where we actually had any success. Grade three. >> Okay. So all the other ones they're there and they're zero. Okay. >> Okay. I I just want to make sure that that wasn't just an anomaly in the data, but >> it's not an anomaly. >> Okay, >> good question. >> So, Mike, I'll just ask you, you've been going for an hour. If you need a break, just I'm

078>> keep going until you're Yeah, I'm >> I'm good. Um, >> you got an hour to go. We're good. >> Yeah. So, again, [clears throat] this is going to this is going to go as long as you guys want it to go. [laughter] So, >> we'll get when we get tired, we'll take that. >> Yeah. So, so in term in terms of students on IEPs, you know, students who met or exceeded proficiency in math, we decreased uh by 4% in 2024. Again, who knows what that's attributed to. It could be attributed to the changes. I I'm not I'm not convinced of that, but it's possible. Um, we need to understand why 26% of our high school students and IEPs met or exceeded expectation in 2024, but only 18% met or exceeded expectations in 2025. That's

079significantly lower. Additionally, 22% of students on IEPs in at Mendes in grades 3 to 5 met or exceeded expectations in math in 2024 and only 17% met exceeded expectations in math in 2025. So we we have a dip there from the previous year that needs to be explored. Uh we show a 10% dip in meet succeeds expectations at the high school level and that 4% dip in and three to five. So I think it's important for us to take a deeper dive into what's happening. Hey Mike, just uh looking at this particularly with the EL students, we've anecdotally over last few years, [clears throat] particularly since Christiey's been on board, uh we've talked a lot about the successes of the things we've implemented and I think we've had some some some local data, right, that

080as far as our own evaluations that have shown growth. Does does do we have is that our growth from the non the not the MCCAST data but our other measures in contrast or do they support the MCCAST? Uh >> so that that's exactly why Christy and I want to do some correlation data between the access and the MCCAST to take a take a deeper dive look into that >> because that that it's striking to me that we've talked a lot about the the progress we've made in that particularly in that space since since the things that Chris's been doing to sort of see it see it at the state level I I want to understand it is that does that state data contrast >> so I'll be honest with you the only reason I bring

081up MCCAST data for ELS is because that's how we are judged based on our accountability structure in the state of Massachusetts. In my opinion, again, which we should probably avoid, the real measure of our of our students success in English learning is based on our access scores. And and that's why we need to do a dive into are our access scores showing us the types of improvement that we want to see relative to the progress made by our English learners. Um, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't continue to strive to get students to meet or exceeds at the MCCAST, but your your point is well taken in that what's a be what's a better measurement stick for us here in Ashland. >> Yeah. And I'm not even saying which one's better from measure. It's more

082data points, right? this is a data point and and if our access data shows one thing and this thing shows something drastically different understanding why that is is still a valuable thing I don't think either is you know we we should never just hang our hat on a data point or or a singular thing either way uh but just looking at this it's like wow that it was it's a little shocking just based on um the positive things we've been saying about the the progress we've been we thought we've been uh over the last few years. Y >> so in the last few slides we've talked a lot about things that we found as challenges. I think it's important to note that our in our high needs population, our low-income students uh made a significant

083increase uh at the at the middle school level in ELA uh going up 8% from the 2024 data. So, another another thing to celebrate at the middle school is the fact that we we saw a rise in our ELA performance by low-income students. Uh, at at the high school, >> just a clarification when when you the very beginning of the program, you talked about >> the different subgroups. >> I thought you said high needs was a combination of a number of different things. Yeah. Number group different groups. So, remind me again which who's included. So, so high need students encompass our low-income students, our our students who are considered English learners as well as our students with disabilities. >> Okay. So, some of the same data points that we've looked at but rolled up. >>

084And the reason I would sort of wanted to focus on our low-inccome students in my anidote is because we talked so significantly about our eels. Yeah. And our and our students on IEPs. So, this encompasses all those students. But I think it's so I can break it down even further. I didn't do a lowinccome slide. I kept it a high need slide. But in terms of the low-income students, we saw some really nice trends in that area. Uh at the middle school, we we saw that they had made that 8% increase. And low-inccome students at National High School uh showed significant improvement in math. Uh 42% of students met or exceeded expectations in 2025 compared to only 33% in 2024. So again, some celebrations that are are worth noting. >> So I just want to

085make sure I'm I'm understanding um sort of the the day of this. So, if this is low income e um students with disabilities combined. >> Yes. >> And when we look back at the last couple of slides that didn't necessarily um reflect great say scores, I'm not sure if that's the right term, but um and and particularly with English learners. That suggests to me that if we're looking at those three groups and the average this total represents all of them that the students the low-income students bring those numbers up as compared to students with IEPs >> but it also encompasses all students with disabilities. So that encompasses students who are on 504s as well. >> Okay. So that that [snorts] that so it's it's a different data point. Okay. Yes. But I think worth noting

086is the significant improvement by the low-income students has a huge impact on these numbers. >> Okay. Fair enough. >> So again, math by subgroup um you you can see the numbers there. Okay. There was a decrease in all areas. 5% only a 5% student meet succeeds. And there there's Paul. You can see that there that there was some success at the fourth grade level beyond just the third grade level, but that's where those numbers shift. Okay, the the other numbers are are so low that they don't make the the bar graph. Um, so some things that we've done, we've implemented a co-taught foundations math class designed for students developing prerequisite math skills uh and or English proficiency at the at the high school. And there's an implementation of the STMath program obviously and some general

087curriculum updates will help support our English learners. I think one of the reasons that we do like St Math so much at the elementary level is it's not a language-based program and it's allowing our students who have challenges with with English to be able to look at math in a in a way that does not consist of too many words, right? They're they're able to learn the concepts there. >> Yeah. In terms of um subgroup IEP math, uh again, you can see that it's a it's a similar it's similar to ELA. Our numbers are low. Um and you know, again, there's there's data that shows that there's certain grade levels that are having some success. I think it's it's worth noting that in grade five, uh there there was a certain level of success there

088um for our students with IEPs. subgroup high needs. We talked a little bit about our high needs population in the area of ELA. Uh but we're four points above the state average for SGP. Uh which is, you know, a decrease from 2024, but it is an area in which we're above the state uh for our students uh in high needs. So here's the here's the the information that I've been looking forward to sharing with you. So, one of the things that we always talk about is how are our students performing over time? So, I I did a longitudinal outlook for every single grade level that took the MCCAST last year from grade 8 down. I did not include our our sophomores. I wanted to keep this K to8 longitudinally. So, what you're looking at right

089now is the snapshot of the class of 2029, which are our current freshmen. Last year's >> What's that? >> This isn't what was sent to us. >> No, because you added a couple slides. >> I added slides. Yeah. Yep. Yep. So, based on questions that came, I did add some slides and I actually adjusted some slides as well. So, >> we're all looking at our our version and going, "Okay, where is that?" Well, >> it's linked. [clears throat] Go ahead, >> Mike. So this this to me show it paints a pretty good picture. So what you're going to see is that in ELA in 20121 when they were grade four students they were performing at a really high level. uh they they were up over 60% uh meets or exceeds and then there was a

090there was a pretty big dip uh in in in grade five and then they slowly rose little grade seven had a small dip slowly rose in grade six had a small dip in grade seven but then look where they they got back to that original point in grade eight. So, it it's what it's telling me is that it could be a lot of different things. The tests could get a little bit harder. Um, but we are getting to the point where our students are maintaining where they were, but not necessarily rising each year. So, we've got to figure out what's happening there. So grade five through seven based on this data that's where our primary year of growth is is is but grade seven data this year was pretty strong but that was grade seven

091data from 2024 based on this specific cohort. So I have the cohort data from from that from that 2030 as well just not in a a slide format. Uh again real strong performance in those transition grades. Grade four tremendously strong performance grade eight tremendously strong performance. But what is it telling us we need to do, right? What are our implications? How are we going to make sure that we're taking this data and actually making it useful as we move forward? And I think that it shows us that our tier one is function is it's functioning, right? But we might not be sufficiently meeting the needs of all of our learners, particularly in grades five and grade seven. So what can we do to improve that tier one instruction? We need to make sure that we

092have proper coherence and we need to make sure we're differentiating for all of our students. And we've we've begun those data team meetings at the elementary school level. We need to move that forward now to the middle school. Um and I think it's important to note that we can't just continue to rely on intervention, right? It's not just about intervention. It's about what are we doing at the tier one level to ensure that everybody is getting what they need. I feel like you we focus so much on intervention strategies and what are we doing for tier 2, but we also need to take a good hard look at what we're doing in our in our tier one curriculum. Like if um I've always had this thought in my head that if we'll just use ELA

093[clears throat] because you have it up on the board, but it applies to, you know, all areas. If if 60% SGP right in grade four and you're able to >> Well, this is meat succeeds. >> I'm sorry. >> There is an SGP slide. >> I'll hold the I'll hold the point to that. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So So I just had a question. You know, do you do you look at how close we how many we have that are close to the line that impacts this and then be able to correlate dips? you know, if there's a general dip uh across the state and we had a significant number that were closer to line that their score didn't dip all that much, but they just there if we had a bunch that are hovering

094by the line that that could significantly change our number, our percentage numbers >> just by a little bit of a of a dip, right? It doesn't mean that >> it's not saying that 10% of that everybody went crashed that with that 10% you could have a a co a large cohort that was right above the line and they just >> three points lower >> and and you're it's like you read my slides that I didn't give you Paul because what one of the things that we're talking about that we want to make sure that we are focusing on are those students that are right in the line and how do we ensure that our students who are right there at partially meets are are getting the appropriate interventions to get them over that hump and

095we've got to we I think we have to focus a little a little bit more on those students. Identify students close to proficiency. You you you you read my mind, Paul. So, this is again scaled score uh by year and grade. And you can see it's it's taking that same class of 2029. It's so close. It's so close to meet succeeds, right? you know, so so you'll notice that it it barely dips below the 500 uh in in grades five in in grade six. In grade eight, it finally gets over the hump, right? We're going from 499 to 506. So, we are continually right there in terms of our average scaled score. This to me does indicate that we are aligned instructionally, but we still have improvements that we have to make. Um and we

096have so many students that are so close to that proficiency threshold. So we need to determine are we going to make a a concerted effort to ensure that those students who are at that proficiency threshold are given additional tools to cross over to that next level. We want the students who are right at the edge of meets exceeds to get to exceeds. But I think we need to really think hard about those students who are at partially meets and get them into that meets category. Um, and I and I and I believe that's where you were going with that, Paul. >> Yeah, exactly. And I think you're targeting [clears throat] something to say almost like figuring out how to get them stable, right? It's it's like, hey, you're >> you're you're right here and it's

097not about our percentage numbers. It's about, hey, how do we get you so you're just in the middle of that band as opposed to the bottom of the band? And and I think that these two these two slides together, right, the slide that we just showed you um why while the meets or exceeds data shows a big dip, it it also shows you how there were probably more kids that were right on that threshold that year that did just drop down slightly. So again, longitudinal data I think tells a better story than the story that is told by simply looking grade grade every year. >> I guess there's there's one thing I I feel like I I need to say about sort of that that group that's close to the line trying to get them

098over is I mean for me, you know, I know we're we're here largely to have a report from you, but we've we've always talked the whole group has talked about really getting every kid as far along as they can be. Right. So the the data points will trigger somebody going from one category to another. But we've always really focused on the growth of each student being as much as it can be. And I don't want to I don't think you mean to suggest anything else than that. But I I I also want to I want to say that because I think if I were listening to this without that context, I might say, well, isn't that just worried about getting kids from >> this this just over the line and then the rest of the

099people are below row? And I don't think that's that's certainly not the message. appreciate the comment. I I think what what I'm what I'm trying to articulate is that we often times are focused on students who are struggling immensely and and that's where our interventions focus. I think we need to understand that we need to improve our focus area to include all students that might be performing at a at a level that is commensurate with an on-grade level ability and we've got to get them higher. So, and we and we need to ensure that all truly means all in this in this context and that one year growth is really got to be the measure for everybody. And that might mean we're doing specific differentiation for students who are right on grade level to get

100them to to truly make that jump. >> Yeah. And I I appreciate the point too, Mark. And my context was if you looked at just the the the data that said, hey, from this grade to this grade, they they dropped 10%. Well, that that might be alarming. And I think my point was looking at it there, it's not an alarming dip. It's saying, okay, those they were right at the line and it's more of an indication of where they were on the scale and how do we continue that growth above and keep them growing above that. Right. >> Yeah. I I I wasn't I certainly wasn't taking issue with anybody's point. It I I I heard as an outsider what was being discussed and I thought there was a context that was missing. I just

101didn't want that to be >> No, I appreciate that. >> That's all. >> And this last one, uh, it shows ELASGP over time. So grade seven uh there was a particular strong year for SGP almost at 60. But it also shows that uh we we need to look at what's happening with our grade five SGP. So in this particular cohort that was a really low year. It was only 47.1 where the other years were all above 50. So we we need to ensure that we're providing everything we need at grade five. Now again, you're looking at grade five in 2022. We've made significant changes since 2022 in how we're teaching, but I think it still shows that there's a there's a discrepancy there. Uh obviously, we've talked about the MTSS implications, right? We we have

102instructional practices that are effective at accelerating learning. We are doing things that are allowing students to achieve particularly at the upper middle grades. We've got [clears throat] to make sure that it's translating to all grades. Okay, this says instructional precision. What are we doing for explicit alignment to make sure that we are making targeted intervention goals for students that will help them get to the next level of growth and we've got to take a good hard look at that. I I I believe we have, but those are things that we need to improve upon. Uh progress monitoring. If you if you've had a conversation with Kate Alman, you will know that she's here right now passionate about progress monitoring and and what are we doing to ensure that we're taking a a consistent look at

103the achievement of students once we determine that there is a specific goal for them. We can't just set the goal and then expect them to get there. We've got to have specific progress monitoring procedures in place to ensure our goals are being met. And that's something that our MTSS processes need to allow for. >> Since we're on the slide now, I'll ask the question I started before, which was I've had this vision sort of if every grade level, each topic, you're able to have SGP of let's call it 60%. Right? It was kind of like one of the highest numbers we've had um in in any subject, in any grade level. And if you're able to maintain that, right, which represents more than a full year's expected growth, right, you you're each year if you

104captured all students in that way, >> you could effectively squeeze another year of learning out of the absolutely the years we have. >> Absolutely. and and so we've talked a lot about the implications and and sort of the um interventions and other things we can do, strategies to to um support individual students. But I one thing I guess I want to ask is whether um we see our curriculum is being built around that mindset. Um and and whether that's appropriate or not, I I don't don't what the right answer is, but um you know, I could see that if you if you look at math as sixth grade curriculum, seventh grade curriculum, eighth grade curriculum, [clears throat] what could be demanded in a given year might push growth because it's more aggressive. you know, is

105our if our sixth grade math curriculum is really aggressive and and seem to consistently drive 60% growth, but our seventh grade curriculum is not equally aggressive, it could cause some of that backslide on a sort of classified basis. And so my my question, long question, I apologize, is sort of, you know, to what degree do we look at our curriculum sort of through that lens um to ensure that we're, you know, we've got something in place that allows for our students to really be pushed at each level, each subject. So what I can tell you is that based on the data that we have in front of us, we need to look very long and hard at what our curriculum is providing our students particularly in the area of English language arts. And we also

106have some some questions in math. Um but we think that the data is is not showing us the type of achievement that we want in in ELA. Um and uh we have begun looking at whether or not there is a necessity to make a change um in literacy at the K to5 level. uh by no means does that mean we are making a change but it means we have begun the process of looking at what else is available to us because we want to do exactly that. We want to make sure we are pushing students to the growth level that is commensurate with their abilities and we want to make sure that our curriculum is not getting in the way of that. >> I hope I answered that >> you did. Yeah. I mean, it's

107I understand my question was sort of districtwide, but I think what your your answer is yes, we look at those things >> in a couple years, we say we need threequarters of a million dollars for K through five literacy. It's relating to the conversation Mike just had >> and and and we're we also need to look at our math as well, right? Because the math data is showing that there's some weaknesses there, too. But we've determined that we're we're going to start with with ELA. >> Yeah. I mean, I I wasn't trying to take away this as we were going through it, but >> on the whole districtwide, it looks like we do better with the math data than we do on the ELA data, at least just looking at the MCAST results, right? >>

108Yeah. And and I I understand that. >> So again, um you not not to belabor it, right, but but I but I also went longitudinally with math to show you that there's two areas, right? So you see here it's it's sort of similar. We're starting low in grade four. We're rising up. We had a little dip in grade seven last year, but then in grade eight they they get back up there. So 46% to 65 across the years. But you're seeing a high performance rate at grade 8 for our students. Is that because of what I said earlier? Is the grade 8 test a little bit easier? I don't know. But it does show that there's continual growth even though there's a slight dip there uh in 2024 where that where that class was in

109grade seven. uh highest level of need is that grade four and five, right? That's that's what that shows us in math. So, what do we need to do? We have to strengthen our core math instruction in grade four and five. How can we do that? We can implement things like guest ST math. We can make specific changes. We can take a good hard look at how we are teaching and how we are differentiating our math instruction at the elementary school level. uh and we can you know figure out how to maintain targeted supports for for our students that have these gaps because that's that's the the goal of the data team meetings. This is by scaled score [snorts] >> right across the board. >> You know it goes from 496 to 509. This goes back

110to the fact that we are teetering on that meet succeeds every single year. Uh it's it's always right there. We're very close. We're never going too far below, which gives me which gives me a a little bit of I would say that it allows me to take a little bit of a deep breath when I see that our meat succeeds isn't a a lower percentage because I know we're right there. We're continually pro providing students with the ability to get as close as they can and we just have to push them over the hump in in terms of getting them to that meet succeeds. So, you know, using the scaled score data coupled with the SGP data can can tell us a good story here. And and the grade six, when they were in grade

111six, their SGP was well over 60. All right? So, they they went from grade five to grade six and showed a high performance rate. So that's that's going to to then sometimes make a slight dip in grade seven and then goes back up in grade eight because we talked about the fact that it's hard to maintain that level, >> you know, year after year. But if we are upwards of 55 to 62 every year, that's pretty solid growth when our goal is 50. >> I think part of it too is when you get into six, seven, and eight, you start getting into specialists, right? people who who actually teach math. That's their specialty, right? That's what they've been trained in. And I think as you get K5, our K5 teachers are fantastic, but they're doing

112everything as well. And it's a little more challenging than than having someone who's hyperfocused on the math component or the writing component. And I think that's that is important as well to understand. and and and looking at the the the sets of slides, it looked like on both uh the SGP showed that basically a two-year catch-up. So in the in the previous one, fourth was the lowest and by uh and by the by the seventh grade it was it was it was high um or and and then this one showing or this one's I'm sorry the other one show fifth grade and by seventh grade had the highest SGP and then this one previous slide the fourth grade was the lowest and here now you'll see sixth grade being the the highest SGP. So that

113kind of seems like we're we're at least catching up. It's it's it's at least that that there might have been a dip, but we're seem like we're catching up. >> And I and I did the I did this longitudinal data for each of the classes that took it. So I did it for class of 2030 u who are are our current eighth graders and for the cl our current seventh graders. And I did see a trend. The trend was that our numbers are dipping at grade four and grade five. um you know even when we have some great success at grade three we're still seeing a dip in grade four and grade five and then we are seeing a slow rise as they grade get to grade seven and eight. So that tells us again

114I talk about telling us a story, right? We've got to see what we need to do differently at grade four and grade five. And uh those are the conversations that we have to have with our literacy coaches, with our district curriculum leaders, with Kate and Beth at at Mendes to say, are there some things that need to happen differently in terms of instruction or do we have to potentially make a larger district-wide change in how we are, you know, what we what we are providing to our students in terms of the curriculum. uh because there's there there are dips in grade four and grade five specifically in yellow. Okay, we are an hour and 33 minutes in and I haven't even gotten to the accountability data. Um I guess at this point I'm I'm going

115to say that I've got I've got 31 more slides. So Jim, I'll follow your lead. I I can keep going or we can we can this is a this is a not a terrible stopping point because I have presented all of the MCAST data to you >> or I could or I can fly through this accountability stuff because it's it should it should provide much less need for questions than the MCAST data. >> Let's say fly through it if if it if basically just tells the same story, right? >> Yeah. I mean, what I was thinking about maybe that'd be helpful and I don't know if people is if you talked about this one slide with whatever level deal you want. I know that the next series of slides Yeah. >> look the same >>

116and if it sort of says Yeah. Okay. Now I understand how it works, but what do people need? >> Yeah. I mean, my my thought is is if you kind of have a just a big picture, you know, I don't think you need to go through it in in great detail. We've seen these >> Yeah. >> things, you know what I mean? something like but again like Mark said kind of a a this is what these charts mean right and so when we look at them um kind of just that that big picture >> yeah so so the big the big picture is that the state is telling us that right now we are not in need of assistance that we're performing uh at the level that the state wants us to perform and we

117have made >> we have made progress towards achieving our goals that they set. So, you know, just to give a quick sort of overview of the accountability system, right? What does it look at? It looks at our achievement, looks at our student growth. It looks at the progress made of our of our subgroups. We talk about English learners. Uh we talk about our our high need students. It also looks at other things like graduation requirements and what graduation in in and chronic absenteeism. I'm not focusing on that for this. This is really more about achievement. And then it provides us with a specific goal. So in 2024, we were at 50%. That was that was that number they get through their formula, the accountability data formula. I'm not going to even begin to try to

118explain that. It's it's it's pretty convoluted. Our goal number was 56. Okay. In 2025, we hit we hit the overall number of 54. So we while we didn't achieve the goal, we made efficient progress towards the goal. So the state is saying that we are we are fine with where we are. So we can continue to to to look at our own data the way we want and we don't need any assistance. This particular slide shows the composite skilled score of our known high school. It doesn't show us anything that we didn't know. Um where did we decline? We declined with students with disabilities and we um did not meet uh target. We were we were we improved but we were below target in low income. Uh we were improve but below target in our

119our high needs population and we declined with students with disabilities. Uh and so that's something that we we knew. What we are interested in is the fact that our non- high school students met the target in English learning. >> Okay. So, >> so, so for English learners and former English learners and the non- high school students, we met our target for our path forward. Okay. So, we so we're making effective progress there. Uh, this next slide, you're frozen again on me. Yeah, this next slide is um English language arts for our non high school [clears throat] in SGP. Uh you can see typical growth high across the board. Uh so doing just fine there. We can move on to the next one. And I I I'm just going to stop here on this one, Mike,

120because I think this is really important. This is the one we focused on, I think, traditionally, right, is the SGP. and and remember we used to have the the quadrants and having high achievement high growth upper right hand quadrant that's where we've really focused over time is to ensure that kids are moving along in terms of growth but that achievement should correlate with that growth. So this is uh the high school accountability data the composite score. So there there are some there are some areas here we declined um as you can see our lowest performing students our high need students um our low-income students our students with disabilities uh and and we declined with our Hispanic and Latino population as well. So we've need we we need to figure out you know our our our

121high need students and what we are doing because uh we did we did have a decline in the success rate in our achievement data at the high school for for those subgroups. Could this correlate, Tina, to your point earlier too, like in terms of the exam itself and how folks uh how seriously they took the exam, understanding this was not going to be a graduation requirement for them moving forward? >> Well, quick question. It says here Asians have declined by 6.5, uh, but they're ex they've exceeded their target. So, could you just clear that? >> Their target is 538.9 >> and they achieved a 527. >> So, they're on a path forward, right? Um and again it's it's such a strange system and how they how they do it. Abashek um because the target is

122538.9 uh and and the just because it declined we we I I wish I could give you a better answer there. I I I don't know why it says that we exceeded the target. I it's >> it's it's it's >> it's a mystery. It's a mystery. I >> said this is their table, not yours, >> right? No. Yeah. And and you'll see that actually throughout where it looks like it should say we didn't meet it but it exceeded it because the numbers don't match up. Um and like I I wish I wish I had a better explanation for you than the state does really strange things. And I like the fact that it says we exceeded the target even though the number makes it look like we didn't. Um because that's how their formula works.

123Okay. ELA SGP again um growth is low to high it's we have we have typical growth no one is declining there um for the for high school ELA SGP >> but we do have some areas where growth is lower than this chart >> y in particular right students with disability right that that's low growth you know uh 38.8 8 SGP is certainly not near where we want it to be. We want it to be at 50. Uh everybody else is pretty close, right? 49.9 just missing with Hispanic, Latino, and just missing with our high needs. Uh everybody else is over the 50. >> Just so when they write typical growth high like it seems like anything over 50, like typical growth and high sound contradictory to me, >> right? I don't know if that do

124you know or is that just one of >> it's just one of their it's just one of their terminologies they use like are we are we getting that typical growth rate so is it is it a low rate is it a low rate or a high rate so if it's below 50 it's going to be low >> so so is it fair to probably categorize typical growth or giving a a range and the next thing is saying where you are in that range so I'm assuming if it was uh 60 it was SGP you it wouldn't say typical growth it would say high growth and where you are in that But if we're under 40, we're not going to be at typical growth. We're going to be at low growth, right? >> Something like that.

125>> So, here's a look at the composite skilled score. Again, you can see that we've declined in a few different areas. Uh, and it's it's areas that we we are not surprised about. It's the areas that we've been discussing throughout throughout the night. Uh, high need students, English learners, students with disabilities. we we need to make sure that we are improving practices there for those students and this is at the uh SGP again for math. I'm flying through this now but it's really the same data that we've seen. positive thing I take from it is the low lowest performing on all of these the SGP seems to be you know several points above 50 um uh on all these that means the ones that needed to make more than a year's growth seems to be

126making more than a year's growth >> well and this is a great slide >> Paul the answer to your question here right about what's the next category 61% is exceeded typical growth right >> yeah and and this is I pointed this out within the context of our of our MCAT slides that I shared earlier, our lowincome students, look at that growth rate, right? Exceeded typical growth. They were at a 60.8 growth percentile. So, we're really proud of of what happened with our low-inccome students at the high school level in math. Okay. Um, that brings us to the Dibbles data. Again, I I think that we could we could go through this another day unless unless you want me to keep on going. I'll go all night, but that that's up to you folks. uh to

127decide. I know there was a lot. Um >> does it tell a different story? >> It it doesn't necessarily tell a different story, but you'll learn more about what's happening at the K to2 level when you take a look at some of that data. >> Nuance. >> Yeah, it's a little bit more nuanced and and it provides the opportunity to see what was happening not just three through three through 10, but now K to 2 as well. uh the the story that it that it tells is that at the 3 through8 level our I ready data is pretty indicative of how we are doing on MCCAST. So we need to be looking closely at our I Ready data because it's telling us the correct story of our performance on the Massachusetts assessment system. and and

128if we're looking closely at our at our student achievement rate there, it's going to help us predict how kids are going to do in the spring on that test. So I I think we have to understand that while sometimes taking those assessments can be seen as a burden, it's providing us with information that should change the way we're instructing students and and we have to use that formatively to ensure that students are getting what they need because it is a true indicator of student success in terms of what our achievement data is showing us. Um, and I would assume or you don't have MCCAST at K to2, it's going to be it it would work the same way, right? That that I Ready data is providing us with the data that we need to ensure

129students are getting what they need. Um, you know, I I I'll forward right here just to the very last slide. >> Before you leave that point, I'm just throw this out there for whatever it's worth. So, I know, you know, as a parent who had kids go through the MCCAST every year when it was still a graduation requirement, we always tried to downplay it and just sort of like, don't worry about it. Like, this is certainly not something that's worth stressing over. And I think most part of kids did okay with that. But um one of the things I think about is you know the point you just made which is I really think where the value of MCCAST data is and all these other things we use is it helps us inform changes that

130we need to make right it helps us understand how kids are learning um in an more I guess I'll call it objective way or at least standardized way and I'm curious as to whether or not we have in the past or thought about in the future any kind of building basic communication to parents to say, "Look, please encourage your kids to take the test, you know, to take it seriously. We don't know that there's a problem there, you know, in that issue here, but we don't want the the response that says I think MCAST is silly." That might be the correct answer for a lot of questions, but it it in terms of being helpful to us. >> Yeah. >> Um people participating in the process is helpful. Whether parents say that to the kids

131and whether kids will actually do that, I don't know. Um, I don't know if we have enough data to assess whether that's a point of concern or not, but it's a thought. Um, because you're you're saying things that I think are important for everybody to understand as a community in terms of what we're getting out of this, what we're getting from Ready, what we're getting from CAS, they are helping us become a better district. And I think that's a very different mindset than most people would think about the MCAST generally, right? Most people think it's just a waste of money, waste of time, you know, and there's lots of words about >> Yeah, there's lessons to be learned from that data and and it helps to to drive our instructional practices, you know, >> I

132just I don't want to sidetrack the conversation on that, but I guess I'd put it out to you as, you know, to both of you, something to think about. And >> to your point, Mark, I I would be more concerned about not the data in terms of MCCAST from, you know, through grade eight, right? I I'd be more concerned about what's going to happen this year again with our sophomores >> when they take the exam. Right? That's the concern in terms of I I think the folks who are taking the exams below, you know, from grade 8 below are taking it seriously. I I don't think there's um a significant amount of of change compared to what we saw at the high school, right? In terms of the dip. Uh I'll be curious to see

133how uh folks um perform this year two of of not making it a graduation requirement. >> Sure. >> Yeah. And an anecdot anecdotally again I'll just say uh throughout like when once you get to high school you really don't you see everything as a means to graduating and like before that it's not really you don't say oh the MCAST is a graduation requirement so I have to do it. I have to try my best. It's it's kind of a thing that you you either do and you don't do and that that's kind of going to stay steady, but it's really at the high school when you see see kids that really see something as a means to graduating or not where they're actually going to make a change. >> Thank you. Thanks. Have a try.

134So, where where do we go from here, you know, the next steps? And while I have some, you know, some oneliners there on the slide, I wanted to take some time to sort of just this last slide to talk about, you know, what we actually need to do in and why we think we may have some of the issues that we talked about in terms of achievement. So, you know, in particular, ELA and math performance at the elementary and middle levels. Uh, we we out we outperformed the state, but there was a decline. There's a decline in early ELA and math proficiency. So that suggests that we could have a gap in in our in our instruction in our curriculum alignment uh and in instructional consistency. There's a potential gap there. Uh it could be

135because there's an inconsistent use of evidence-based instructional practices. Right? It could be because we are not right now uh [clears throat] using the right materials and and we need to take a good hard look at that and we are going to um there could be gaps in our our math instruction most specifically conceptual development and problem solving. Those are areas that we continually see as issues. Um problem solving is something that we we always come up and talk about. Uh we talked about geometry and fractions as well. So those are areas that we see consistent gaps. Are we using the real-time data that we get uh from I Ready and from our assessments to inform our instructional practices effectively? Are we are we really using that beginning of year, middle of year data and looking

136at it in [clears throat] a way that is allowing us to make real time improvements to our practices. I believe that we're doing a great job at the ele early elementary level and at Mendes in terms of taking specific data during data teams and having targeted plans for students, but I don't think we're doing that across grades and we have to improve those practices. We have extreme gaps for our ELS and for our students with disabilities. We know this. Um it could be because there's a a variability in the implementation of our of our instructional practices. uh we have to take a look at our co-eing practices. What are we doing? Are we are we being fully inclusive in terms of doing the right thing and and providing the right opportunities for students to receive

137good inclusion support across all grade levels? Uh are we scaffolding the right way? Are we using our language supports and math appropriately for all of our students? Are we making it rigorous enough for our special education students? Those are things that we need to look at. We have to have better ELA and math alignment. Uh we have to make sure that we're aligned across all grade levels and we need to improve our tier 2 and tier three instructional support systems and that is something that we are committed to. Uh we have to make sure that we we strengthen our core instructional practices, but we also have to make sure that we're strengthening our intervention practices and our supports for our students. There's a lot to be done. Right. So, you know, it sounds I what

138I what I don't want folks thinking is that the sky is falling. It's not. Our students are achieving at a high level. Right? When we talk about the improvements that need to be made, it's because we want them to be better and we want to be better and we want to have consistent improvement every single year and not see any kind of dips. And we saw some dips this year that we didn't like. and it's going to make us look hard and long at what we are doing to ensure that those don't continue. I want this to be an anomaly. I don't want it to be a trend. And if it becomes a trend and that's a problem. So I think what we're doing right now with our MTSS, how we're how we're changing those

139systems and processes and procedures, we have to continue to utilize the data that we have in front of us to make decisions on a regular basis. And um I I think that we will see we will see progress as we move forward. I can tell you that while it's not part of this presentation, uh the growth that I we've already seen from beginning of the year data to middle of the year data in our I Ready was fantastic. Um so we're already on the right track this year with some changes that are happening. I'll be happy to go through that literacy data in more depth if you'd like. I I have to apologize to Suzanne and Kathy who have been online all night waiting for that to happen. I don't think anybody thought that we

140were going to go an hour and 52 minutes without even getting to that. I I I I >> You said an hour and a half. >> I knew there was going to be a chance, but I I I also knew that there's a lot of slides to go through and there's a lot of information. Um so, thank you to you two for being on even though we didn't even get to that piece. Uh I appreciate all the work you did to help prepare help prepare for that part. Um, and hopefully next summer we can we can get this done in the summer and and not and not wait until January to get to it. But >> right again to point out sort of what we said at the end like you've been doing the work,

141you just haven't had a chance to report it out to us, right? So it's not like anything's being held up because >> because of this. >> So did you want to give um either those folks a chance to to say anything? I mean, they've been here. I don't want to shortcut them. I think they were really there in case there were specific questions for them that were related to the data that we were going to go over in the dibbles and and because they're they are they are far more have far more expertise in that area than I do. Um I can I can talk about it but I I don't have the level of expertise that they have when it comes to looking at uh dibbles and the the ORF and all those wonderful

142acronyms that go along with that question stand for right alphabet soup but So, yeah. >> So, let me pause just see if there's any Yeah, thank you first and incredibly detailed report, but >> just go around the room, Marcy. Any any follow-ups? You know, >> no, no follow-up questions, but I would love to dive into some more of that data at another time if I you know, I love that. So, I'd love to um if we have time to do it, but I think for tonight's for the purposes of tonight, we've certainly covered enough. [clears throat] >> Thanks for all the work. Yeah, >> Lori, anything from uh wherever you're sitting? >> No, I've been listening very intently and I really appreciate all the work that you've all done. Thank you. I'm good for now.

143>> Okay, then uh why don't we just move on to the last couple shorter items on our agenda. Warn approvals. Paul, >> excuse me. Bring it up. >> And and thank you to Kate for being here and to folks that are that are with us virtually as well. if you want to uh bail out. It's not far less interesting from here on out. I can assure you >> tonight. Thank you. >> Uh between December 11th, 2025 and January 14th, 2026, uh I Paul Kindle authorized by my signature payable in the amount of 930,000 930,8955. This include general fund expenses of $532,223.93 revolving expenses of $386,7138 and 38 and grant expenses of $11,88.37 and mills tax expenses of $6387. >> Thank you, Paul. Uh Jim, superintendent report. Yeah, just real quick, a couple um important things

144that are coming up in terms of meetings. Uh tri board meeting uh has been scheduled for January 21st. Uh again, um we're kneedeep uh more than that, probably neck deep into the budgeting process and and having really good conversations with our our department heads as well as our principles and uh and working really through what has been the most challenging um budget scenarios that that I've been a part of in in you know my 16 years here. Uh and it's uh it's coming along. Uh we have a February 4th budget meeting as well with the school committee. Um so two pretty important dates coming up uh with regard to where we are going to land uh on the budget and and what it's going to look like in terms of uh conversations within our community

145uh moving forward. I I I took a few notes Mark can attest to during the presentation. Um I I think it's important and I want to share I'll share it out at the next meeting. Mark asked a question over the summer. you may have forgotten, but but I typically share out our AP data um and how we perform on on the advanced placement exams and because we don't really dive too deeply into that uh that data um we we focus on the grade 10 MCCAST, right? But I think there's a culminating experience that our students have at that high end of the advanced placement classes and and and how we perform. And I think I want to I will bring that to the next meeting because I think it's critically important to look at that

146data in the context of how well we are performing with as Abject was talking about maybe school districts that are locally around us. [clears throat] Uh and and I've made the comment u many times about how our kids perform when they're our students for a long period of time andor in front of our educators. uh there's a significant difference in uh our AP scores with regard to students who are taught by our teachers of the Ash public schools versus we have a number of students who take online AP classes and their performance levels are not as high as um the students sitting in front of our students and or in front of our teachers. And that being said, when you disagregate that data, we outperform I think with the exception of maybe one or two

147uh high schools around us, we outperform every single one of them. And I think that's critically important to look at that data uh and show it to you uh in in disagregated form. Um so yeah, that that's oh that's a spreadsheet. Yeah, there's more to it that Mark needed broken down. Yeah, thanks Mike. Um but um I'm >> glad he was listening because I don't remember. >> Yeah, you did ask. It was a good question because you as actually asked how we performed against other communities uh with that data uh removed uh from online courses not taught by that. >> Yeah. So so I'll bring that to the next meeting. So that's all I have. Yeah. >> Okay. Great. >> Um all right. Consent agenda. >> Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

148>> Move to approve the consent agenda. >> Is there a second? Um, so we'll do this as I think we're just going to do it as roll call because Lori is virtual just to make sure. Um, Marcy >> I >> Tina >> Hi. >> Paul. >> Hi. >> Lori. >> Hi. >> And I for me. All right. Consent to agenda is approved. Reports of school committee members. Let's start with Abashek. >> Yeah. So, uh, Ashlin High School has midterm week coming up and the end of term two as well. Uh, midterm week starts next week. Uh, beginning on Thursday. Uh we have Monday off due to Martin Luther King's day or Martin Luther King Day and as well we also have Friday off because it's a teacher professional day. Uh so I don't know if

149Mr. Adams would want to touch on that briefly uh what they're talking about but uh that's pretty much it that's happening at the high school. Nothing too big. Uh sports are still in full swing for winter and uh yeah. >> Great. Great. Chris, anything from you and officially school committee but anything you want to share? >> No, thank you. Of course, >> I do not have an update this time. >> Um, so update. So, I did attend the Ashpack meeting last week. Um, Britney was unable to be there. Um, but Katie Bent from uh, Warren, the Warren School, um, came to answer any questions or kind of, uh, fill in, uh, which was wonderful of her. Um, I a lot of there were a lot of questions. I think that Ashpac was really curious to

150understand the competency determination. Um, so I filled them in on the policy that we passed. um it kind of explained the process. Um I think there were a lot of questions um that were more geared towards how and why the state did things the way that they did. Um uh so you know I kind of explained the difference that we had or the lack thereof in the process and and how we had to move forward. So um that was the main part of the conversation that I was involved in. But I think I feel like I answered everybody's questions. I haven't heard followup yet, but um they're always a great group to uh be with. And I think that's it >> for me. Uh, I don't think I have anything to report on. >> Lori,

151anything. >> I don't have anything to add. >> This is obviously very brief update. Um, today would have been high school school cite council, excuse me. U, but it was postponed. Um, Kelly had some conflict, I believe. So, I have nothing to report on that or anything else that I can think of at the moment. So, with that, I will look for a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> Great. We'll do a roll call on this because of virtual participation. Marcy, >> hi. >> Tina, >> hi. >> Paul, >> hi. >> Lori, >> hi. >> And I for me, we are adjourned. Good night, everybody. Good night, everyone. >> Thank you again, Mike.